On demand printers (such as Dye Sublimation printers) are frequently used to create printed output from consumer photographs. Retailers are more and more frequently directing output from 2 or more consumer terminals (kiosks) or other consumer input points to on demand printers. Alternatively, these on demand printers are being used to create printed output from consumer film or prints as part of in store personnel operated “digital minilabs.” Since on demand printers, such as dye sublimation, usually lack sorting devices or a method for back printing order information, retailers have difficulty identifying one customer order from the next customer order.
On demand printers typically have an excess piece of paper (hereafter paper waste) that is cut off and discarded at the end of the printing process. The paper waste is used to handle the paper in the printer and also ensures that the printer can print “full bleed” (edge to edge) without a white border.
The present invention is a method and apparatus that provides an order separator for photographic order fulfillment. The present invention includes a photographic printer that prints a photograph. And, the present invention includes a process where the paper waste area on the bottom of a separator sheet print is not cut from a photographic print so that when stacked the individual separator sheets create a tab separating the different customer photographic orders. Further, the present invention includes a process where the paper waste area on the top or the bottom of a print is not cut from the photographic print. Additionally, the present invention includes a process where the first print of an order is not trimmed leaving a tabbed structure. Further, the present invention includes a process where the last print of an order is not trimmed leaving a tabbed structure. And, the present invention includes a process as described above and including identifying text or graphics printed in the paper waste area. Finally, the present invention includes a photographic print with an order separator
To aid in the understanding of the operational aspects of photographic order fulfillment, this disclosure uses as an example a stand alone digital photographic kiosk, such as the kiosk disclosed in International Patent Application Serial Number PCT/US2004/002079, filed 27 Jan. 2004 and published as WO 2004/067286, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes into this specification. Additionally, an example of using multiple photographic printers in the photographic order fulfillment process is described in International Patent Application Ser. No. PCT/US2004/036732, filed 4 Nov. 2004, and published as WO 2005/045637, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes into this specification. Further, this application claims the benefits of the earlier filed U.S. Provisional App. Ser. No. 60/594,144 filed 15 Mar. 2005, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes into this specification.